Christmas may have come and gone but for anyone looking to relive a bit of the sparkle then I can promise you a glittering post below! Looking over the photos has made me want to fast forward this year straight to December! I spent Christmas in my home county of Somerset with my family – it was a merry time indeed!

DIY: Mum’s vintage Christmas advent calendar!

The build up before Christmas began long before the beginning of December when I decided to make my mum an advent calander. She has always gone that extra mile and made moments memorably special for my sister and I so I thought this year, it was her turn. I purchased 24 little presents between the price of £1 to £4 (I may have slightly gone over) and wrapped them in vintage music paper and red ribbon, red and white paper envolopes and old fashion brown paper tied up with string. Each date was handwritten on little red tags and attached to the parcels. My mum was over the moon with the advent calendar and thoroughly enjoyed opening each one.

Its a truly fantastic way to make the countdown extra special and there are a variety of things you can put in each envelope. There are plenty of little treats at just £1 and under to keep the cost down as well as different ways to package them! My top tip would be to stay in budget and shop around, I managed to buy some gloriously indulgent items during seasonal reductions and as part of gift sets that could be spread over several days. If anyone is looking for some inspiration for what to put inside an advent calendar for a loved one than here’s what I included.

This year I was given the responsibility of decorating the christmas tree. My mum is a perfectionist when it comes to festive decorating and has been known to reorder me and my sisters enthusiastic efforts so that all the tree decorations create an equal balance of colour and texture! She’s even admitted to putting the homemade decorations we made as a child at the back! As I took hold of the tree decorating rein this Christmas I couldn’t help but feel the pressure! Every year we go for a different colour combination but I chose one that hadn’t been done before; pink/plum, gold and green. And I got a thumbs up from Mum!

Queen Coco even got involved in the decorating!

Last year I made these little boxes using old book pages and satin red ribbon. They look so lovely placed around the house at Christmas, or hanging from a mantel piece. They can also be used as boxes to hold presents!

The hallway was decorated in cooler colours with a glass bead garland spiralling up the staircase bannister. There was also a little tree that was sprinkled in white snow and adorned in darling birds, wooden festive shapes and vintage presents.

Christmas Morning!

Long gone are the days of waking mum up at 5 o’clock in the morning with the enthusiastic thuds of a fully loaded sack being dragged across the landing. These days my sister and I appreciate a lie in (as does mum!) and so the day usually gets off to a much later start. We began the morning with diving into our red and white stripped stockings pulling out the most wonderful presents and passing around the beautifully wrapped gifts from underneath the tree. The tradition in my house is that the presents from my mum aren’t placed under the tree until Christmas morning so everything is a wondrous surprise. This year mum matched the colour of her wrapping paper to the decorations I had put on the tree; stunning pink and glittering gold. I am yet to meet anyone who wraps presents as beautifully as my mum!

Little Chase got into the Christmas spirit too!

I decided to go for a vintage feel and wrapped my presents up in old music paper with red satin ribbon. They looked so traditional and festive, especially if you can find a drawing on the sheet; I love this little violinist! Its also a fantastically cheap way of wrapping presents. I bought the music paper from charity shops and the red ribbon didn’t cost much either!

Last but not least, the dogs! Our pets are considered valuable and much loved members of the family and therefore they receive wrapped presents just like the rest of us. My Grandparents give them a well wrapped present accompanied by an adorable tag! My dogs Coco and Chase and my Aunties weimaraner Shona all receive dog treats, whilst my aunts horses receive a gift bag full of fruit and a pack of polos!

Christmas merriments!The rest of the day was spent at my Grandparents house with my Auntie where we indulged ourselves in a christmas feast, Grandmas ‘Victorian scene’ Christmas cake, champagne and cheese! Christmas films followed whilst we relaxed before a round of board games. I’m definitely the most competitive person in my family so the evening games is one of my favourite parts about christmas…unless I lose of course. Then it’s best of three.

Dressing up!For Christmas day I wore an icy mint backless dress from Topshop, black tights and black crystal court heels from Zara. In the evening I slipped on a black velvet jacket from Jaeger. I also wore crystal drop earrings and my current favourite piece; a beautiful vintage necklace adorned in pastel shade crystals. My dog Coco and Chase dazzled in velvet diamante collars in strawberry pink and deep crimson shades. They definitely out-shined me!

Christmas was just wonderful and I wish I could celebrate it all over again! Even though Christmas is a celebration of scrumptious food, vintage champagne and beautiful presents, the most important part is the people you share it with! And for that reason alone I am one very lucky lady!

I hope you’ve enjoyed a little sparkle this gloomy January day and I hope you’ll join me for my next post on Thursday about my favourite presents. And for the food lovers, on Sunday I will be posting about the Christmas themed afternoon tea I hosted! Thank you for all the support I’ve received so far about my blog and I appreciate every comment and message! You are all wonderful! 🙂

Where in the world..

LOVED

When you’re feeling an overwhelming craving for sweet, chocolaty, creamy indulgence, there is nothing more fitting then a Freak Shake. Whilst a relatively new obsession in the UK, Australia has been perfecting their creation for…